


This is Halloween

by CaesiumDressing



Series: Huxloween stuffs [30]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cute, Fluffy, Halloween decorating, Jack O' Lanterns, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 01:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8426077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaesiumDressing/pseuds/CaesiumDressing
Summary: Kylo Ren helps Hux decorate his house and lawn for Halloween.Written for Huxloween prompt: Trick or Treat.





	

Armitage Hux had always found the concept of trick-or-treating questionable. Since he had arrived in the United States when he was nine he had felt that going door to door begging for candy to be a bit dodgy. When he expressed that sentiment during a lunchtime rendezvous a few years back with Phasma he was met with “Is it really any more dodgy than shaking a can around and asking for pennies for the guy at strangers?” That had promptly shut Hux up.

As such, he’d begun giving out candy when he moved into a quaint suburban neighborhood two years ago. He actually found that there was some joy in seeing children in their Halloween costumes so excited for little bags of M&Ms. He’d rolled his eyes earlier this year when his coworker Kylo had suggested that he decorate.

“Yes, as if I am going to spread that weird cottony spiderweb stuff you can get for a dollar in the drug store all over my lovely bushes,” he snarked.

“What if I helped?” Kylo shot back.

“I’ll think about it,” had been Hux’s reply. That, of course, was a bold-faced lie. He had really wanted to jump out of his seat and scream ‘yes, a million times yes!’ and throw himself into Kylo’s arms. He’d had the biggest crush on the man since he’d begun working for the IT firm he was employed at. He’d always wanted to ask him out, but Hux’s own cold nature and crippling social anxiety prevented him at every turn. So he’d simply admired the man from his desk and occasionally sat with him at lunch. That he simply offered his assistance to someone that was little more than an acquaintance was odd, but it gave him a reason to have Kylo’s undivided attention. It was exciting.

That’s why Hux was now pacing around the living room fully dressed in his nicest casual outfit waiting to be picked up by Kylo. Since Hux had no decorations, Kylo had suggested they meet early and hit up the Halloween superstore that’d sprung up in the local mall late in September. Kylo was supposed to arrive around 11:00 am, but Hux had gotten up at 6:00 and begun pacing after eating breakfast. It was now five after and Hux was beginning to panic.

 _He’s not going to show up you fool. I bet someone told him you’re always eyeing him like a school girl and he decided to play a rather mean prank on you. Naturally you’d fall for it you sentimental fool._ The voice admonishing him in his head always sounded a little like his father. He assumed his father had lost faith in love by being trapped in a loveless marriage with Hux’s mother. It was truly unfortunate, how common “shotgun weddings” were. Hux had always done his best to ignore the little nagging voice, but the later it got the more he began to believe it. He was nearly in tears when the bell rang at ten after. Hux all but ran to the door, straightening his sweater vest and making sure his eyes weren’t too red.

He opened the door to find Kylo standing on the stoop with a tall coffee in each hand.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I wanted to grab some coffee and the Starbucks was just teeming with people. I have some sugar and creamers in my pocket if you . . . “ Kylo had rushed out before looking at Hux’s face. “Hey, Hux, are you alright?” he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. “We can do this another day if it isn’t good for you,” he offered, looking slightly disappointed.

“Oh no,” Hux sniffed. “It’s fine, just fall allergies,” he lied, trying to play it off that he hadn’t just been panicking because he thought his crush was playing with his emotions. “Please, come in,” he invited, stepping out of Kylo’s way to let him through the door.

“Alright,” Kylo nodded, still looking concerned. He stepped inside anyway and glanced around before setting what Hux presumed was his coffee on the table in the dining room.

“Wow, Hux,” he said, staring at the chicly decorated interior of Hux’s home. Everything was straight lines mostly black and white with splashes of color here and there. It was like something out of a movie. “You certainly have a flair for decorating,” Kylo said, dumping several handfuls of crumpled sweetener packets onto the table along with a few non-dairy creamer cups.

“Thank you,” Hux said, blushing as he picked up his coffee and took a sip. It was the perfect temperature. Kylo glanced at him.

“You take it black?” Kylo asked, grimacing.

“Naturally,” Hux responded, taking a much larger sip. “What is the point of watering it down? If you want something mild and sweet you should be drinking tea,” he explained. Kylo stuck out his tounge.

“Gross,” he replied. “So,” he continued, changing the subject. “We should discuss what sort of things you think you want for your decorations,” Kylo said, looking to be all business. He gestured at one of the dining room chairs, “May I sit?” he asked.

“Oh yes, pardon me,” Hux said, suddenly feeling like a horrible host. Kylo pulled out one of the chairs and sat. Hux did the same across from him. Kylo produced a little writing pad from a shoulder bag Hux hadn’t noticed him carrying. Kylo flipped it open and showed Hux a sketch.

“I was thinking that we could go for the classic haunted house look,” Kylo said, setting the pad down. “Since it’s so close to Halloween I could see it being difficult to get some of the more theme items, but the generic standbys of bats, spiders, ghosts, black cats, et cetera are probably still plentiful,” he explained, pointing out the items around the sketch. “Oh, and of course,” he lit up, reaching into his bag again and producing several pieces of paper with basic black and white designs on them. “Jack o’lanterns,” he said proudly, spreading out the pictures on the table. Some of them were extremely complicated.

“Wow, Kylo,” Hux said, in awe of how much effort the man had put into planning decorations for someone else’s house. “You didn’t need to do all this,” Hux murmured, looking up at Kylo’s face. Kylo blushed and looked away.

“It’s nothing, really,” Kylo responded, running his hand through his silky black hair. “Halloween is just my favorite holiday and I’ve got an itch to decorate outside for once,” Kylo laughed, looking back at Hux.

“You don’t do outdoor decorations?” Hux asked, staring at Kylo’s hair. He wondered what it would be like to run his own fingers through it.

“No,” Kylo replied, looking a little downtrodden. “I live in an apartment. I can hang lights and carve pumpkins, but it isn’t really the same as creating huge tableaus on a lawn,” he said, chuckling to himself. “That’s really the only thing I miss about living with my parents,” Kylo finished, draining his coffee and looking a little uncomfortable. “You ready to hit the road?”

“Oh yes,” Hux answered, finishing his own coffee off. He felt himself grinning at the idea of providing Kylo some sort of entertainment. “Let’s go.” Kylo smiled at him, and they headed out.

While the Halloween store looked picked over like crazy, Kylo’s estimation was correct. There were plenty of the Halloween staples. He’d helped Hux pick out everything from lights to little plastic tombstones you could stake into the lawn. Apparently Halloween decoration technology had increased in quality over the years because the fake spider webs they were selling were purported to be reusable and they felt much sturdier and easy to set up than that horrendous cotton fluff. He’s bought a few of them at Kylo’s suggestion. He promised Hux that he’d come and help remove them, so there was another reason to see the man.

Hux had spent an unreasonable amount on the decorations; even Kylo cringed at the total saying that they could put some stuff back. Hux refused, he had nothing else to spend his outrageous salary on. If he was going to do this, he was going to do it right. A Hux always went above and beyond.

Once they were out in the car Kylo turned to him.

“So,” he began. “We have two options here. We can go to the nearby grocery store and get some pumpkins, or, we can head out to my favorite pumpkin patch,” Kylo said, looking intently at Hux. “The pumpkin patch is a little further away, but I feel like it always has the most perfect pumpkins. It’s really about how long you feel like you want to hang out with me,” Kylo teased, sticking his tongue out a little.

“Well,” Hux replied, screwing his face up like he was actually weighing his options. “I think it’s probably best to go to the pumpkin patch. I’m sure the grocery store has been picked clean by now,” he justified his thinking. He didn’t want to say out loud that he wanted to spend as much time with Kylo as he could, but he truly did.

“Excellent,” Kylo replied, starting the car and pulling out of the mall parking lot.

The pumpkin patch was about forty-five minutes out of town but he found that spending that forty-five minutes in Kylo’s car was rather pleasant. Kylo had a car old enough to still have a tape deck in the radio. “Classic,” he had corrected Hux when he’d remarked on how old it was, and a massive collection of cassettes to match. Hux had put in one marked “The greatest mix of ’96.” When it had started playing Kylo cringed when the theme to _Space Jam_ started.

“Oh, God,” he exhaled. “This was the first mix tape I ever made. It’s horrible.”

“I can change it if you want,” Hux offered, going to eject the tape. Kylo just shook his head and laughed.

“Don’t. I haven’t listened to this garbage in years. It’s a little nostalgic honestly,” he smiled, glancing at Hux with a sparkle in his eye. Hux smiled back.

With all of the most cheesy and silly songs that had been released in 1996 playing softly in the background conversation flowed between them easily until they arrived at the pumpkin patch. When they’d climbed out of the car Kylo had lead Hux down the rows and rows of pumpkins, spinning them around and remarking on their quality for decorating.

“The most important thing,” he started, gesturing to the pumpkin he was examining. “Is that they aren’t too bruised,” he advised. “This one is pretty good,” he indicated the pumpkin he was currently swiveling around and knocking on. Hux nodded and agreed to get that one. He’d told Kylo to pick one out too. Kylo had claimed to be a “pumpkin carving master” and Hux had wanted to see this incredible skill. They’d had a back and forth about “oh I can’t possibly” but Hux won out in the end.

Hux had pulled out Kylo’s copy of the “Nightmare Before Christmas” soundtrack for the ride home. He’d smiled so wide when Kylo’s eyes lit up and he sang along to every song. The joy was infectious, so Hux chose to join in. He rarely ever sang along, but something about this moment made him want to desperately. Kylo smiled at him the whole time.

When they’d gotten back to the house they’d started in on the decorations. Kylo really was amazing at planning decorations. Once they’d finished setting up everything Hux had bought his house looked like it may be legitimately haunted. Even though it was a million dollar McMansion built well after the year 2000, it looked like something out of a horror movie. Hux’s eyes shined.

“Kylo,” Hux whispered in awe. “This is amazing.” Kylo beamed.

“Yeah, but there is still something missing,” he said, looking at Hux intently.

“What’s that?” Hux questioned.

“Jack o’lanterns,” Kylo grinned, indicating they should go inside to carve them, as it was getting rather dark. Hux nodded, and they headed into the kitchen.

Kylo walked over to the dining room table and gestured at the pictures he’d left spread out on the table. They were apparently stencils for the pumpkins. Hux ended up picking one out of a cat arching its back. He rather liked cats. He had considered getting one when he moved out here, but he hadn’t gotten around to it. Maybe that’d be the next thing to spend his money on.

Kylo had chosen his own of a grim reaper standing against the moon. Kylo took some masking tape from his bag and taped each stencil to a pumpkin after they’d gutted them. He instructed Hux to use the long pointed instrument out of the carving kit Hux had purchased earlier to score the edges of the pattern. While Hux was doing this, Kylo pulled out his own silver handled carving set. Hux raised his eyebrows at the ridiculous quality of it.

“I told you,” he said with a grin. “Halloween is my favorite holiday. I take it very seriously.”

Kylo had gotten all the way to carving out large chunks of the pumpkin by the time Hux had finished scoring his pattern. He paused briefly to tell Hux how to best cut out the pattern.

“Small chunks” he instructed. “It takes longer, but doing it in increments allows you better control. You’re less likely to mess up the design,”

By the time Hux was done, Kylo was taking pictures of his own pumpkin with his phone. For the simplicity of the stencil it looked beautiful. The edges were so even and straight. Hux looked at his own, it was good, but nothing compared to Kylo’s.

“You are actually a pumpkin carving master,” Hux said, showing his approval of the pumpkin. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you.” Kylo chuckled.

“You’re not bad yourself,” Kylo replied. “For someone who hasn’t done this very much you did amazingly,” Kylo said, leaning over and dropping a lit battery powered votive into Hux’s pumpkin and taking a picture. “Do you mind if I upload this to Facebook?” he asked, looking at Hux again. Hux blushed.

“Not at all,” he murmured, staring at his shoes. Kylo just smiled.

It was just about dinner time that Kylo packed up his stencils and supplies to head out. Before he got to the door he turned around.

“Um, Hux,” he started, inclining his head and rubbing the back of his neck like he was nervous. “Do you think, uh, do you think you’d like to join me for dinner?” he asked, holding his breath when he finished. Hux stared at him with wide eyes.

“What?” he questioned incredulously.

“I mean,” Kylo sputtered. “Don’t feel obligated or anything. I just know this great sushi places and I was thinking since I was having so much fun with you, you might be interested in,” Kylo rambled. Hux stepped forward and took his hand. Kylo stopped and looked at Hux’s smiling face.

“Yes,” Hux stated. “Yes, I’d love to.”


End file.
